Chapter 4 #2
‘That’s exactly why I don’t want any more beer tonight. It’ll be obvious I’ve been drinking as it is, but as long as I’m not working with Alex the Vet, it’ll be fine. I don’t want one of his sanctimonious lectures.’
‘Oh, you mean the gloomy but good-looking dark-haired one? I’ve seen him in here a couple of times with Angeliki.’
Vicky put up her hands.
‘Please, analysing him will take far too long and keep for another day. Text me your address with the confirmation you’ve done the deed.’
‘Will do.’
Suzie raised the bottle, which now held only dregs.
‘Yamás! To my newest friend.’
‘Yamás! To mine, too.’
Vicky dispensed with the rest of her bottle, and Suzie watched her stagger a little as she got up from the table before righting herself.
‘Whoa, easy there.’
Suzie moved in for a hug, her head colliding with Vicky’s chest.
‘I’m so pleased that we’ve met.’
‘Me too.’
The sound of the entrance buzzer startled Suzie even though Vicky was bang on time. She moved one of the serviettes embroidered with lemons an inch to the left, before pressing for her new friend to come up. It would take her a while to climb all those stairs.
Inviting female friends, or indeed any friends, round wasn’t a regular occurrence.
With two older brothers and two sons, plus working in a bar, she’d been largely surrounded by males for so long that she’d almost forgotten what it was like to be with women in a simple social setting, and particularly with a woman her own age.
The female bar staff were all young, and although she listened to their problems and gave advice if asked, she wouldn’t dream of confiding in any of them.
She’d consider Angeliki a mate, plus a couple of the British women who’d settled on the island, like Grace the teacher and Sofia the fashion queen, but all three of her potential cache of close friends were constantly busy with work and in serious relationships.
What with the long hours at the bar, there wasn’t a lot of time left over for girlie chats or meet-ups.
Back in school was the last time she’d had a real friend, boy-mad Jackie Douglas, who’d happily covered for her in the sixth form if she’d snuck off to do a gig or was too exhausted from the night before to come into school.
She’d been joking with Vicky about shooting her mouth off to the deputy head and getting expelled, but it wasn’t far from the truth.
School had never really been her thing, and being told what to do all day long definitely wasn’t.
She’d already been gigging for two years when Frank had discovered her singing in a rundown pub when she was just seventeen, and the rest, as they say, was history.
A very short history, but she had appeared on Top of the Pops three times, her biggest claim to fame.
Suzie glanced at the photo of her parents, Anne and Simon, in pride of place on the sideboard among the colourful pottery she’d collected over the years.
Leaving school the day after Frank spotted her could have been one almighty family upset.
It was obvious she wasn’t academic, like her brothers, and music was the only subject where she really shone, but her lovely mum and dad had been so laidback about her joining such an unstable profession.
Their smiling faces beamed out from the frame, the photo taken in the garden of the house where she’d grown up in Kent.
They’d been so proud of her success. Admittedly, they hadn’t been quite so keen on her falling in love with Panos and decamping to Greece for good, but they’d absolutely adored their grandsons and made regular visits over the years.
Both had died within a few months of each other in lockdown – they never could bear to be apart – and their absence had left a big hole in her life.
If she ever caught the lingering scent of a cigar on the street, her heart still leapt a little at the possibility that her dad could be round the next corner if she just walked a little faster.
But onwards and upwards. Vicky’s knock brought her out of her own head, and she dragged her eyes away from the photo and moved to the door.
When she opened it, Vicky was hanging onto the fish-shaped brass knocker for dear life and trying to get her breath back.
‘Whoa. That’s a climb, isn’t it?’
‘Yep. Five flights. But believe me, it’s worth it.’
Suzie opened the door fully to let Vicky see through to the balcony and beyond. For some reason, she really wanted this woman to like her flat.
Vicky rushed through the living room, barely glancing at the layout or décor, and went straight through the open doors to the balcony.
‘Wow! What an amazing view.’
The magic was working, as it invariably did with the very few people she allowed into her sanctuary.
Suzie followed her out and looked anew at what Vicky was seeing for the first time.
She’d got so used to living here that she sometimes forgot to appreciate the sensational vista fully.
The town was spread out before her, the white cubes of houses with their pastel-painted windows and doors falling in rows down to the harbour, where a variety of vessels from superyachts to fishing boats bobbed on the sparkling water.
To her left was the terracotta-coloured ancient church with its bright blue dome, and the strip of restaurants and cafés below was abuzz with chatter and the clink of glasses.
The diners would almost definitely be tourists at this hour.
It was a little early for the Greeks; three in the afternoon was more their style, but the delicious cooking smells floating up the hill through the narrow streets were evidence that it wouldn’t be long before the natives tucked in.
Casting her eyes further afield to the blue of the Aegean, Suzie stood in silence with her new friend, as the sun glittered on the turquoise sea and shattered it into a million tiny pieces.
Vicky appeared rooted to the spot.
‘Why would you ever need to go out? There’s so much to see all day long.’
Suzie indicated to Vicky to take a seat at the bistro table, painted pale green like the chairs.
Flowers in pots round the edge of the blue metal balcony added bright bursts of red, pink and yellow to the scene.
The leafy tree at one end bore only a few lemons now after its winter abundance of fruit, but they were still handy for salads and gin and tonics.
The olive tree at the other end of the compact terrace was covered in flowers and preparing itself for giving up its bounty later in the year.
She loved to see the seasons playing out on her own tiny patch of pots.
Vicky still had half an eye on the view as she reluctantly took a seat, and Suzie poured some chilled water into her glass.
‘I’m glad you like it.’
Vicky smiled.
‘Like it? I love it. Have you lived here long?’
‘Ever since I arrived on the island. I used the last of my music money to buy it at a time when properties in these old places were cheap, and I had just enough left over to do it up.’ Suzie laughed. ‘I sure as hell couldn’t afford it now.’
Vicky was staring out to sea again rather than at her. Ships drifted by in the distance, and the indistinct shapes of other islands rose on the horizon.
‘What a fabulous place for the boys to grow up.’
‘It was. But it was tough carrying the buggy, plus them, up and down the stairs in the early years. Only the shopping to carry now, but at least it keeps me fit.’
‘I’ll bet.’
‘It was the one thing I was desperate to hold onto from the divorce. We divided everything else, and Panos kept his small farm up in the hills. He’s a fair man.’
She didn’t usually divulge personal information quite so readily, but she felt safe with Vicky.
‘He sounds it, letting go of even a share of this amazing place.’ Vicky finally turned her face away from the view. ‘Sorry to be nosy, but no regrets about letting go of him too?’